“Miyoung”

 

“Dad how many times do I have to tell you to not call me that in front of my guests?”

exclaimed the slightly disheveled girl standing at the doorway, while her companion scurried out of the main door.

 

Mr. Hwang shook his head in disapproval as he noticed the scantily dressed woman leave the apartment.

 

He waited till the woman was gone and reverted his attention back toward his daughter.

 

“And what were you thinking coming to open the door in this?” he pointed to the silk robe that she was wearing. “What if it wasn’t me? What if it was someone else?”

 

“Dad calm down! Too many ‘what if’s’. It’s too early for me to deal with this right now”.

 

The girl muttered coolly while trying to untangle her messy hair with her fingers.

 

“It’s past noon for god sake!” Mr. Hwang exclaimed at his daughter who seemed too uncaring about the whole situation for his liking.

 

“Dad you need to chill! It is only 2:13 now. Plus it’s a Saturday.”  She retreated back into the kitchen and fixed herself a strong cup of coffee.

 

It was one of her usual Saturdays after a crazy Friday night party the only difference from her ‘usual’ was that her dad was sitting in her kitchen right now.

 

“Coffee?”

 

“Okay. Don’t put salt instead of sugar”

 

“Won’t”

 

“Tiffany. Look I understand that you are young and this is a free country and all. And I do love you regardless of your preferences or anything, however, this partying every weekend…” sigh.

 

He saw his daughter’s lips parting to protest his point of view, indeed this wasn’t the first time they were having this conversation. Knowing his stubborn daughter, he realized that this conversation was about to go nowhere.

 

 However, he is here today with an agenda. If she can be stubborn, he can be just as stubborn, after all, it was one of the many attributes of his own that is inherited by his beloved daughter.

 

He was brought up in a very strict tradition Korean family. So, after migrating to the United States he wanted his daughter to have all the freedom that he could never have, at that age. He was never cut out to be the strict father and the remainder of his strictness wore off the day his wife passed away due to cancer. He just couldn’t bring himself to say no to his only daughter.

 

He believed that if he could afford it then why not.

 

When Tiffany came out to him as gay after high school, it was a foreign concept for him. Yes, he knew some friend’s friend that was gay, but none of the people in his vicinity were gay. Nonetheless, he never hesitated to accept her because of that reason. He was always supportive of her, for he knew that life is too short, to spend time distancing oneself from the people that you love. Unfortunately, his wife taught him that lesson, the very hard way.

 

He was broken out of his trances when Tiffany placed the coffee cup in front of him and took and seat in one of the stools in the counter.

 

“You know, your mother was a traditional woman. Even after moving here she would celebrate Chuseok, make seaweed soup for birthdays and keep up with all the traditions. But after she passed away, and when the business started expanding, I never had the time to maintain such traditions. It is my fault.”

 

Mr. Hwang stole a glance at his daughter to see if this tactic was working.

 

He continued, “My friend’s son is getting married next month and since your new job doesn’t start till two months later, I wanted you to visit Korea and take a look around the village where your parents grew up and got married. And who knows, you might find your Ms. Perfect in there.”

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“Jessie you don’t understand! The last time I went there was when I was a freshman in high school. It was freezing in there, and this annoying girl took me fishing in some ice lake. By the time I came home I had five bumps on my head from slipping in the ice.”

 

Jessica burst out laughing imagining a furious Tiffany with five bumps on her head. She could only imagine the condition of that poor girl that decided to take Tiffany for fishing.

 

“It doesn’t end there. After catching the small fishes, she started eating them alive. She was probably a vampire.”

 

“I don’t think Vamps feed on fishes.”

 

“They probably drink fish blood”

“From those tiny fishes? I don’t think so. You should really catch up on that Twilight series and be more mindful about Vamps if in case you meet her again when you visit Korea.”

 

“No way! I can’t believe I fell for Daddy’s trick and agreed to this.”

 

“Come on Tiff, since there’s no way to back out now, might as well try to get the most out of the situation.” Jessica tried to comfort her distressed friend.

 

“It’s not like I am going to the fun parts of Korea, like Seol or something. This is in the middle of nowhere. Some place that starts with Jeo-something.”

 

“But you never know. You might meet a cute girl and fall in love.”

 

Tiffany broke into a loud laughter hearing this. Contrary to her princess-like, cold persona, Jessica was quite the dreamy type.

 

“If you say so.”

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“Hwang Tiffany?”

 

Tiffany turned around hearing her name being called in a thick Korean accent. She looked around to see a young girl, slightly shorter than herself, holding a board, with “Hwang Tifany” written on it, in neat blue handwriting.

 

Tiffany frowned a bit noticing the obvious mistake in the spelling of her name.

 

Her eyes shifted to the girl holding the board. She seemed like a naïve and innocent girl but that doesn’t mean that Tiffany didn’t notice when she checked her out, immediately her gaydar went off.

 

Tifffany couldn’t resist herself from teasing the girl, and so she leaned in and whispered, “There are two f’s in Tiffany.” She held back a chuckle seeing the girl tensing at their close proximity. Tiffany Hwang’s gaydar is seldom mistaken.

 

So they have cute gay girls in a small town like this.

 

Tiffany watched in amusement, as it took the girl a moment to snap back into reality.

”Oh sorry about that. My English is not the best.”  The girl said with a polite smile that seemed remotely familiar to Tiffany.

 

“I hope I pronounced your name properly” The girl said with a smile.

 

“Almost. A little more practice, and you will be fine.”

 

“Kim Taeyeon”

 

Tiffany watched with amusement as the short girl bowed ninety degrees. Tiffany bowed slightly in acknowledgement. It’s the first time since her last trip to Korea that she bowed to someone.

 

“Ah! My luggage is here now”

 

“Which ones?”

 

“The two pink ones after the black suitcase”

 

“Alright. I got this. You can go sit in the purple car parked right outside the gate. I will be bringing your luggage.”

 

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Tiffany was surprised at her own offer. Initially she didn’t plan on being so friendly. But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to be cold toward this good natured girl, or maybe because she knew how heavy her luggage really was. She has a reputation of packing her whole apartment even for a short weekend trip out of state.

 

“No its okay. I think I got this one. You must be tired from the plane journey. Just sit back and relax in the car. It’s the only purple car out there.” Tiffany noticed the smug look on Taeyeon’s face at the mention of her car and found it quite endearing. She caught herself in the act and coolly walked over to the gate where Taeyeon pointed.

 

After making herself comfortable in the passenger seat, she noticed the short girl struggling with her two oversized pink suitcases. Tiffany smirked as Taeyeon climbed on the driver’s seat and panted in exhaustion.

 

“You could’ve just asked me for help, you know.”

 

“Nah. I do admit that it was heavier that it looked, but I manage to get it in the trunk, didn’t I?”

 

Tiffany raised her brows at the cocky smile. 

 

“If you say so.”

 

“Seemed like you packed the whole USA with you.” Taeyeon remarked with a cheeky grin.

 

“Just drive on, will you?”

 

“Sure will”